A/HRC/53/33
United Nations
General Assembly
Distr.: General
18 April 2023
Original: English
Human Rights Council
Fifty-third session
19 June–14 July 2023
Agenda item 3
Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil,
political, economic, social and cultural rights,
including the right to development
The employment guarantee as a tool in the fight against
poverty
Report of the Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human
rights, Olivier De Schutter
Summary
The Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights explains how the
introduction of a job guarantee, with the State acting as an employer of last resort, can
contribute to the full realization of the right to work, transforming it from a policy objective
into an enforceable legal right. The job guarantee tackles the paradox of structural
unemployment and underemployment coexisting with important unsatisfied societal needs,
as neither the State nor the market currently supplies the public goods that are needed for the
greening of the economy and for a thriving care economy. The Special Rapporteur highlights
the benefits of the introduction of the job guarantee both to the individual and to the
community, and addresses a number of objections to the idea. He sees the introduction of a
job guarantee as an essential component of the “just transition” and of the new eco-social
contract needed for the post-crisis recovery.
GE.23-06355 (E)
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